Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Premiering September 19, this original HBO documentary by out filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato chronicles the controversial legislation that let gays serve in the U.S. military as long as they didn’t disclose their sexual orientation.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton encountered vehement opposition when he tried to deliver on his election promise of lifting a 50-year ban on gays in the military. The result was the compromise legislation “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” which allowed gays to serve in the military provided they didn’t disclose their sexual orientation. The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell examines the consequences of the policy and the fight to overturn it, a battle that would last 17 year, span three presidencies and result in the discharge of 13,368 active service members.

Shot during the law’s final 15 months, the film includes personal accounts by active gay soldiers and interviews with key players like Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. Patrick Murphy and Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer.

Debuts September 19th – HBO – check times in your area

Posted on

Stock market finished it’s second-best week in a year

(Via the AP) The stock market finished its second-best week in a year Friday as Europe’s debt problems appeared to get closer to a resolution.

Stocks ended higher for a fifth straight day, the longest winning streak in 2 1/2 months. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75 points after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on European finance ministers at a meeting in Poland to reach a solution on Greece’s debt problems.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 finished the week with a 5.4 percent gain. It was the biggest increase for the broad market index since the first week of July.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75.91 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 11,509.09. The Dow jumped 186 points Thursday, its biggest gain of the week, after five central banks said they would act together to support European lenders with unlimited dollar loans.

The S&P index gained 6.90, or 0.6 percent, to 1,216.01. The Nasdaq added 15.24, or 0.6 percent to 2,622.31.

Posted on

Texas hits 24 year high in unemployment rate

As Gov. Rick Perry touts job creation and limited government on the campaign trail, the Texas’ unemployment rate hit a 1987 record in July and the Austin-area took the brunt of the state’s job losses in the public sector.

The Texas Workforce Commission said the jobless rate increased from 8.4 percent in July to 8.5 in August.

Having the state hit a 24-year high for unemployment rate could be coming at just the wrong time for Perry. Perry has long called Texas a national jobs-creation leader in a country besieged by unemployment. He traveled the country this week on a bus with “get America working again” painted on the side.

The latest unemployment numbers could weaken that message. The rate hasn’t been this high since the mid-1980s oil bust. And even though Texas has received numerous accolades for creating more jobs in recent years than any other state, 26 states had a lower unemployment rate in July.

The Texas rate is still lower than the country’s, which was 9.1 percent in August. But that gap is closing.

“If Gov. Perry takes the credit, he should take the blame,” said state Rep. Jessica Farrar of Houston, who leads the House Democratic Caucus.

Posted on

Rep. Steve King: Unemployment Benefits Have Created “A Nation Of Slackers”

Rep. Steve King says that we’ve created “a nation of slackers” because of food stamps and unemployment.

First of all, this is a cold and black/white view of the issue. Things aren’t that simplistic.

You can’t get unemployment benefits without having first worked. You can’t get food stamps without working, be looking for a job, or be retired/disabled.

His opinion seems to be: unemployment benefits and food stamps only encourage laziness. So starve, you good for nothing slackers!

Posted on

San Antonio City Council approves domestic partner benefits

The San Antonio City Council voted 7-4 today to begin offering domestic partner benefits to both gay and straight employees as part of the city’s 2012 budget, according to reports from Equality Texas on Twitter.

The DP benefits, which are expected to cost $300,000 per year, has drawn vocal opposition from anti-gay religious leaders in the Alamo City.

San Antonio, the seventh-largest city in the U.S., will be the fifth city in Texas to offer DP benefits, joining Austin, Dallas, El Paso and Fort Worth.
(via dallasvoice)

Posted on

Reward offered for proof of Michele Bachmann’s “HPV caused mental retardation” claim

Michele Bachmann got into some testy waters earlier this week when, after confronting Gov. Rick Perry on his executive order in Texas to require 12 year old girls to get vaccinated for HPV, she said she met a mother who claimed the vaccine caused her daughter to become “mentally retarded.”

Now an $11,000 offer has gone out to anyone who can prove the child Michele Bachmann mentioned repeatedly on television this week actually became “mentally retarded” from the HPV vaccine. One of the scientists is from Bachmann’s home state of Minnesota.

From the StarTribune: Steven Miles, a U of M bioethics professor, said that he’ll give $1,000 if the medical records of the woman from Bachmann’s story are released and can be viewed by a medical professional.

His offer was upped by his former boss from the University of Minnesota, Art Caplan, who is now director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics. Caplan said he would match Miles’ challenge and offered $10,000 for proof of the HPV vaccine victim.

“These types of messages in this climate have the capacity to do enormous public health harm,” Miles said of why he made the offer. “The woman, assuming she exists, put this claim into the public domain and it’s an extremely serious claim and it deserves to be analyzed.”

As others have said, words are very powerful – especially those spouted in a public forum that parents may respect. I don’t know the science, but it’s possible some parents may not get this vaccine for their little girls because they heard Michele Bachmann say this in public.

I’d hate to think, if proven wrong, that an important medicine was demonized because of some possible politicking.

Posted on

New Sarah Palin book “The Rogue” getting a lot of attention

Via CNN: Todd Palin released a scathing statement late Wednesday about author Joe McGinniss, whose new book about former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has grabbed internet and tabloid headlines, as well as received harsh criticism from The New York Times.

“This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife,” Palin said. “His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.'”

McGinniss’ book, “The Rogue,” is set for publication next week and is the latest work from the bestselling author who first rose to national prominence with “The Selling of the President 1968,” which described the marketing of Richard Nixon during the 1968 campaign.

In early 2010 McGinniss moved to Wasilla, Alaska to begin research for a book about the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and rented the house immediately next door to the Palins.

It was expected that anything McGinniss wrote would be denounced by the Palins.

I haven’t read the book, but I’m certainly curious.

For those who are interested, check it out on Amazon.